Hundreds of Huntsville City School documents to be unsealed

A federal judge ruled Friday that the test scores and transfer records will be unsealed because they involve public schools.

Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala made several critical comments about the way Huntsville City Schools and Superintendent Dr. Casey Wardynski has handled the on-going desegregation case. She said she didn't like some of Wardynski's recent comments at a hearing in federal court a few weeks before in Huntsville because they contradicted the record.

Huntsville City Schools attorney JR Brooks received a bit of a tongue lashing from the judge after she ordered the redactions and unsealment to hundreds of documents.

Cameras were not allowed inside the federal courthouse in Birmingham. The judge had a lot to say about a majority to minority transfers and the district's inability to get the court and the DOJ the information before a public hearing several weeks before in Huntsville. She had the district's attorney explain why they only found it after the hearing.

Attorney JR Brooks told the court he didn't know why they didn't find them when the court first asked for them. The judge also voiced major concerns about a meeting set for next Monday hosted by Huntsville City School Board member Laurie McCaulley.

During Friday's hearing, the judge pulled out a news article and highlighted a section of it where McCaulley said the meeting is for the public to help create a template for upcoming mediation between the board and the DOJ.

The judge told the entire courtroom only the mediator decides that template and not the public. Monday's planned meeting was eventually canceled.

Judge Haikala told the court some of the Huntsville City School Board's recent actions hampered their path to the court lifting the desegregation order. Dr. Wardynski and all of the school board didn't attend the hearing, however several Huntsville residents did make the trip, and were pleased with what they heard.

"Her concern about the community meeting schedule is a valid concern, because she brought up some aspects that I had not at first considered," said Veronica Curtis, a Huntsville resident.